Blueprint Recruitment Ltd

Blueprint Recruitment Ltd is a Glenrothes-based recruitment company that was subcontracted by Carillion to provide labour for the Aberdeen western peripheral route. It is owed over £360,000 for work that has already been completed and its future hangs in the balance. Given that the impact of Carillion’s collapse reaches far beyond the company’s own workforce, can the First Minister offer Blueprint any advice or support?

I thank Jenny Gilruth for raising that question. I advise her that I understand that Transport Scotland has written to the company this morning, and I hope that that letter will be helpful. Obviously, we are deeply concerned for all of Carillion’s employees and subcontractors. I should say that everyone will be paid for what they have been instructed to do since the company went into liquidation. For agency workers on the Aberdeen western peripheral route, the joint venture partners, Balfour Beattie and Galliford Try, are currently exploring ways to ensure that affected agency staff and operatives can remain on the project.

However, for work that was carried out before the company’s liquidation, all of Carillion’s creditors, including their subcontractors, must submit their claims to the United Kingdom official receiver. The official receiver is following a legally defined process for distributing money to creditors.

I fully appreciate that that still leaves many companies in a very difficult situation. That is deeply regrettable. The British Business Bank is offering support to subcontractors through Government-guaranteed loans, I understand, up to a total fund of £100 million. I hope that that will help to ease the pressure on firms that are owed money by Carillion.

I hope that that information, together with the information that Transport Scotland has provided to the company, will be useful. Keith Brown, the economy secretary, will be happy to continue to provide any advice that he is able to provide.